1. Field
The following description relates to a contact patterning apparatus, and more particularly, to a contact patterning apparatus wherein a contact retention force between a substrate and a fluid is improved through a voltage being applied to the fluid between the substrate and a fluid supply unit, thereby stably forming a line pattern of a fine line width regardless of the viscosity of the fluid being used and of the patterning velocity.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, a lot of studies are being conducted on methods for forming a fine pattern to be used in LCDs, touch screen panels and the like.
Etching technique such as light exposure is a conventional technique for forming such a fine pattern. However, etching technique needs to keep the space for performing the etching under a vacuum state, and thus leads to a problem of too much manufacturing time and cost.
In order to resolve this problem, in recent days, studies are being conducted on inkjet printing method of forming a pattern by spraying ink on an object.
This inkjet printing method is advantageous in that it forms a pattern by spraying on an object an ink that includes an electrode material and thus significantly saves the manufacturing cost, but there occurs a problem that it is difficult to form a pattern of a fine line width with an ink having a high viscosity.
Meanwhile, there have been studies conducted on contact printing to enable an ink being provided from a nozzle to directly contact an object so as to realize a fine line width based on the inkjet printing technique.
The most representative one of those studies is U.S. Pat. No. 7,344,756.
However, in such a contact printing method, if the patterning velocity is increased, the ink becomes unable to maintain the contact state with the object, and thus snaps, leaving disconnected areas. Such difficulty in patterning a continuous line makes it difficult to adjust the patterning velocity, which is a problem.